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An Easy Writing Celebration: Gallery Walk

I can’t stop
thinking about Tytiana. Right after Thanksgiving, I started a fresh coaching
cycle in a third grade class during their writing workshop. We only had a few
weeks until Christmas vacation and I wanted the students to have the
opportunity to celebrate their writing before the break. The students, their
teacher, and I decided to use their quick writes about “hands” and turn them
into finished pieces. Some kids wrote about
their own hands, the hands of a parent or sibling, or Santa’s hands. The format
for the celebration was very simple. The kids put their fancied-up “hand” writing
in the middle of their cleared off desks then stood quietly nearby. We had invited
another class, administrators, secretaries, and some teachers to attend the
gallery walk the week before. As guests
arrived, they signed in and browsed the pieces at their leisure. They were free
to pick up the writing, read it, and ask the writers questions. After about
fifteen minutes or so, the teacher and I asked the attendees, as a group, what
stuck with them about the pieces they had read or seen. The guests noticed that even though everyone
had written about hands, all the pieces were different. Many of the visitors noticed that the writers
had used similes. Lots of compliments. Lots of smiles. Then our visitors were thanked and they
departed. Quick and painless. As soon as everyone left, the class, their
teacher, and I gathered at the carpet to debrief. The kids were bursting with
excitement. One little girl, Tytiana, a decidedly reluctant writer, was smiling
so wide I thought her cheeks were going to pop.

“Tytiana,
you are smiling so much! Are you happy?”

(enthusiastic
head nod)

“Did it feel
good to share your writing with Mr. P’s class?”

(another
enthusiastic head nod)

“Did you
want to tell why it felt so good?”

(animated
head nod and a big breath in)

“Wellllllllll,
this girl read myyyyyyy writing.”

“So, why was
this so wonderful for you, Tytiana?”

(big breath
in)

“Welllll, she
is in my cheernastics class annnnnnnd, usually . . . she doesn’t even notice me. Today . . .
she did!”

Very special time you gave these students, Diana. It is extra to put a celebration all together, invite others, etc. and look at the wonderful result. This certainly made me smile for Tytiana and for you!

Wow! What an amazing story. Your words brought tears to my eyes. We never know what experience in the classroom is the one that will impact kids the most. Clearly this experience of being "noticed" by someone who'd never noticed her before (maybe because the situation hadn't presented itself) gave Tytiana the boost she needed to feel good about herself. It makes me want to redouble my efforts to make sure that whatever I do in the classroom gives kids an opportunity to express their voice and be heard.

Wow! What an amazing story. Your words brought tears to my eyes. We never know what experience in the classroom is the one that will impact kids the most. Clearly this experience of being "noticed" by someone who'd never noticed her before (maybe because the situation hadn't presented itself) gave Tytiana the boost she needed to feel good about herself. It makes me want to redouble my efforts to make sure that whatever I do in the classroom gives kids an opportunity to express their voice and be heard.

Wow! What an amazing story. Your words brought tears to my eyes. We never know what experience in the classroom is the one that will impact kids the most. Clearly this experience of being "noticed" by someone who'd never noticed her before (maybe because the situation hadn't presented itself) gave Tytiana the boost she needed to feel good about herself. It makes me want to redouble my efforts to make sure that whatever I do in the classroom gives kids an opportunity to express their voice and be heard.

Sweet! And this is why we celebrate...it's so much more than fluff. :)

It's not a stretch for me to believe Tytiana's writing is filled with voice because of the way you captured her voice in the dialogue. Very clever way to write it and draw us into the story, while making Tytiana leap off the page.

A simple thing turned out to be so powerful- being noticed. I love the way you gave us the dialogue the way Tytiana actually said it, with some words drawn out. I could feel her shyness and her excitement in those lines. So glad you are working in this capacity- to touch so many students' lives!